I'd rather be having a quiet drink... and can be followed on Twitter @alcothusiast; and friended on Untappd (handle: "neilcake" - all welcome).

Thursday, 7 August 2014

Whisky Stones

Do you like your
whisky cold, but find the way ice melts and dilutes your drink inconvenient?
No, me neither, but if you do, there is another product on the market that aims
to alleviate this problem, leaving your whisky’s strength and flavours intact –
whisky stones.

Do you like how I
just assumed everyone feels the same way as me in that opening paragraph? Yeh,
I know, some people probably do have that problem, whereas I don’t really see
the need – I like whisky, and room temperature suits me just fine. In fact,
significantly warmer than room temperature – say 35 degrees Celsius – was very
nice when I was drinking the Glenfarclas in Ho Chi Minh City.

Nevertheless, shall
we see what all the fuss is about? Will these prove to be any better than the ice ballsthat I featured a
couple of years ago?

So, what are they?
They are little soap stone cubes that you pop in your freezer for a few hours,
before dropping them into a rocks glass (3 should suffice), and pouring your
dram of choice over them, until they are almost covered. They are supposed to
chill your drink without diluting it, and then maintain the cooler temperature
for a sufficient amount of time. Then, when you are done with them you can just
rinse them and put them back in the freezer – that’s one advantage over the ice
balls; they had to be washed after
use.

I’m boring myself
talking about these already, but let’s crack on, then it’ll be one more week’s
post sorted…

I decided to conduct
an experiment, trying the same brand of whisky in four states; neat, on the
rocks, chilled (in the fridge) and with the whisky stones. That should give us
a happy buzz, but more importantly, tell us all we need to know about whisky
stones and their efficacy. Come to think of it now, I could’ve done a direct
comparison between the stones and the balls, but I suspect we threw the balls
away some time ago.

So! Since you
already know that I like my whisky neat and at room temperature, it seemed
logical that I shouldn’t be using one of my favourite malts for this
experiment. Every drop is sacred, so I would need something that I don’t mind
sloshing around a bit. I give you Jack Daniel’s Old No 7. Don’t get me wrong;
it’s nice enough but it was either that, the Glen Scotia 16, the Strathisla 12,
the Ballantine’s (of which there wasn’t enough left, and that I was saving for
a future test) or opening a new bottle. It was decided.

I put the stones in
the freezer and a sample of Jack in the fridge. Tempting as it was to try four
samples concurrently - it was Saturday - and while I was up for getting
slightly smashed at home, I wanted to save some of my drinking capacity for
later on – get some of the nice stuff out. The first test then, would be whisky
stones vs the refrigerator.

Now, people don’t
tend to keep their whisky in the fridge – but why not? You keep your soft
drinks in the fridge, and they are cold enough. It’s probably because of the
amount of time a bottle of whisky can last… and the number of bottles some
whisky enthusiasts like to keep on the go - though with a little forward
planning you can just put a few small samples in there.

Whatever, what
happened? Well, the packaging on my whisky stones instructed me to use a rocks
glass. I actually decided to use the Bruichladdich branded glass that I bought
from the distillery (pictured), and haven’t used more than once. It is
like a rocks glass, but has more of a tulip shape, supposedly to aid with
nosing.

There are no such
limitations when it comes to refrigeration. I decided to use a glencairn glass,
because I could, and that way we would see how much the chilling had affected
the aromas.

One of the first
things I noticed was that neither sample was giving off any nose, so that is a
definite mark against. The flavour is most important, but the nose is an
enjoyable aspect of whisky tasting.

Next, you can’t help
but notice how heavy these stones make your glass - I’m sure you would get used
to it, so it isn’t important, but they are pretty heavy – and they don’t make
your drink as cold as ice does. I’m thinking that, surely if you take your
whisky with ice, it’s because you like it ice
cold. Maybe not, I don’t know, I don’t know why you can’t just drink it at
room temperature, or stick your glass in the fucking fridge for 20 minutes…

Then, the palate…
there wasn’t much determinable difference in temperature between the two
samples, so that confirms that you can keep your whisky in the fridge as an
alternative if you so wish. Or if you currently keep your whisky in the fridge,
and are looking for an alternative, you can use the stones.

In terms of tasting
though, I detected Jack Daniel’s’ phantom banana notes in both samples, and while this appears less prevalent at room
temperature, I did feel ultimately that the chilling masked some of JD’s
subtler nuances. I would find out more specifically when I moved onto the neat
and on the rocks varieties, which I
decided would not have to be carried out in a head-to-head (rock non-stop)
fashion.

So! Neat. Yes,
that’s the JD, the way I’m coming to know it; dark, charred and woody. And no
banana. I’m not really sure how I feel about the banana – I don’t like them
generally, though their essence doesn’t ruin the JD. It’s more interesting that
there is an essence of them in there than that they have an overt dominance of
the spirit’s character.

But what about with
ice? Well that’s a different prospect altogether. You can’t get away from the
fact that the ice does melt. Yes it makes your whisky cold, but if you like the
taste of the whisky, the elements of that flavour that you enjoy so much are
diminishing by the minute. If you don’t like the taste, I don’t think you
should be drinking it in the first place.

No one can make a
cup of tea for you, the way you like it, but yourself. And by the same token,
the right way to drink your whisky is your way. My way is neat, at room
temperature so no matter what my opinion of rocks vs ice is, I am not the
market this product is aimed at. Maybe you need to try them for yourself. I
just think that if you do drink your whisky with ice, you do that because
that’s how you like it… so why do you need another way?

As a bonus, these
particular whisky stones were accompanied by a book… which is fairly
interesting but can’t be treated as a whisky guide, as such. In it Jim Murray
writes at good length about each of the distilleries in Scotland, Canada and
the United States and it is diverting enough if you’re interested. I tend to
refer to it from time to time, but it only directly refers to one expression
from each distillery, so it isn’t too useful if you already have a basic
knowledge and want a bit of advice. Still, if you like whisky, you probably
like reading about it to some extent too.

Now, I don’t know
whether my lack of enthusiasm for this subject came across (I suspect it did),
but if it did, hopefully it was still worth your while reading and hopefully
you’ll come back. I’ll be a bit less cynical next week, when I’ll be looking at
another tequila brand – Sauza this
time. Until then, enjoy your drinking – I know I will.

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.